Chapter 6

Selmburg was a beautiful castle-city on the 61st floor.

It isn't all that big. But the city, with a castle which has serene

spires at its center, was delicately built from white granite and

contrasted spectacularly with the overflowing green foliage. There

were quite a few shops in the market so a lot of players wanted to

use this place as their home city. But since the houses were crazily

expensive —they must be at least three times the price of

Algade— it's almost impossible to buy one unless you were at a

high level.

When Asuna and I arrived at the teleport gate in Selmburg, the

sun had almost set, and the final rays of light lit the streets a dark

purple.

Most of the 61st floor was taken up by a lake, and Selmburg was

located on an island in the middle of it, so one could see the

setting sun reflected on it like a picture on a canvas.

I gazed at the city in awe, my breath taken away by its beauty as it

shined blue and red with the vast lake behind it. Not that it would

be that hard for the NerveGear to create lighting effects like this

with CPUs of the new generation and their diamond

semiconductors.

The teleport gate was placed in the plaza in front of the castle and

the main street, which headed north going through the city and

was lined by street lamps. The stores and houses stood orderly on

either side of the street, and even the NPCs that were walking

around looked well-dressed somehow. I spread my arms and

breathed deeply, as even the taste of the air differed from Algade.

"Hmmm. It's large and has few people. I like how it feels so

spacious."

"Then why don't you move?"

"I don't have anywhere near enough money," I answered with a

shrug before fixing my expression and asking hesitatingly.

"...More importantly, is it really okay? Back there..."

"..."

As if she realized what I was trying to say, Asuna twirled around

with her head bowed down and tapped the floor with the tip of

her boot.

"...It's true that some bad things happened a couple of times when

I was alone. But assigning bodyguards to me is going a bit too far,

right? I said I didn't need them, but... the members said that it's

guild policy."

She continued in a subdued voice.

"In the past, the guild was small with the leader inviting people

individually by talking with them. But as the number of members

grew, it started changing... Then when it began to be called the

greatest guild or so, something became a bit strange."

She stopped talking and turned around slightly. Something in her

eyes seemed like she wanted to rely on me, and I subconsciously

stopped breathing.

I had to say something. I thought that, but what could a selfish solo

player like me say? I simply watched in silence for a few seconds.

Asuna turned her gaze first. She watched the lake, bathed in soft

light, and said, as if to get rid of the awkwardness,

"Well, it's not a big deal, so you don't have to worry! If we don't go

quickly, the sun is going to set."

Asuna set off first, and I followed suit. We passed by quite a lot of

players, but none of them stared at her.

I only stayed here for a couple of days when the front line had

been here, so I never really looked around properly.

As I looked at the delicate carvings that adorned the city, the

thought that living in a city like this for a while wouldn't be too

bad came unbidden to my mind. But then I changed my mind and

decided that it would be better if I only came here once in a while

to sight-see.

The house where Asuna lived was a small but pretty three-floored

maisonette which you could get to by walking eastward from the

downtown area for a few minutes. It was, of course, the first time

that I had come here. Now that I thought about it, I'd only talked to

this girl during boss fight conferences; and we'd never even been

to an NPC restaurant together before. As I became conscious of

this, I stopped in front of the doorway, suddenly tense, and asked.

"Is it... alright? Y'know..."

"What? It's something I suggested first, and there wasn't

anywhere that was fit for cooking so we don't have a choice!"

Asuna turned her head and bounced up the stairs. I steeled my

resolve and followed her.

"E-Excuse me."

I hesitantly opened the door then stood there, speechless.

I'd never seen a home so well-ordered before. The wide

living/dining room and the kitchen adjacent to it had furniture

made out of light-colored wood and was decorated with moss

green cloth. They were all most probably the highest-quality

player-made items.

But it wasn't overly decorated either, nor did it make you feel

uncomfortable. It was totally different from my house. I felt

overwhelmingly relieved that I hadn't invited her to my house.

"Erm...how much did this cost...?"

At my materialistic question.

"Hmm-, with the house and the furniture, about 4000k? I'm going

to change so just sit anywhere you want."

She answered lightly and disappeared through a doorway. "K" is

short for thousand. 4000k meant four million Cor. I practically

lived on the front lines, so I could save up that much if I tried. But I

always wasted it on either some strange item or a sword that

caught my eye, so I never saved up. I chastised myself, which was

out of character, and sank into the spongy sofa.

Asuna appeared after a short while, fully changed into a simple

white tunic and a knee-length skirt. Well, I say changed but there's

no actual taking off and putting on involved. All you have to do is

fiddle with the figure in the stats window. But there were a few

seconds when the player was only dressed in their underwear. So

unless they were a very bold male player, most players, especially

girls, did not change in front of others. Our bodies may be nothing

more than just a bunch of data rendered into 3D, but that sort of

thinking got hazy after two years, and right now my eyes went to

Asuna's bare arms and legs without any remorse.

Asuna, clueless to my inner-conflict, threw a sharp look my way

and said.

"Are you planning to stay dressed like that?"

I quickly opened my menu screen and took off my leather coat and

sword. While I was at it, I brought the «Ragout Rabbit's meat» out

as well and put it, which was in a clay bowl, on the table in front of

me.

"So this is the legendary S-rank food ingredient— ...So, what

should I make?"

"Ch-Chef's recommendation."

"Oh...? Well then, let's have stew. It even has «ragout» in its name."

Asuna headed into the next room; I followed.

The kitchen was large, and the various appliances that I could see

next to the oven looked expensive. Asuna double clicked on the

oven's surface, set the time on the pop up window that appeared,

and pulled out a metal pot from the cupboard.

She put the raw meat in it, threw a couple of herbs in, and then

poured water inside it before closing the lid.

"If I was actually cooking, I would need to make all sorts of

preparations. But in SAO, it's so short that it's no fun."

She put the pot in the oven and pressed the "Start" button on the

menu as she complained. Even as the 300 seconds counted down,

she moved about with precision, making various other side dishes.

I watched in a stupefied daze as she went about, not making even

a single mistake in operating the menu or in the actual tasks.

In just five minutes, the table was fully set, and Asuna and I sat

down across from each other. The brown stew looked incredibly

delicious as it rested on the plate in front of me. Its smell enticed

me as the steam rose slowly from it. Smooth, rich sauce covered

the thick meat, and the creamy white marbling on it was truly

enchanting.

We lifted our spoons and felt that even the time spent saying,

"Thank you for the meal," was too long. Then we ate a mouthful of

the best food in existence in SAO. I tasted the heat and flavor in my

mouth, and as I bit into the meat, the juices inside poured out.

Eating in SAO didn't calculate and simulate the feeling of biting

into the food. Instead it used a «Taste Reproduction Engine» that

Argus and an affiliated environment programming designer had

made together.

This sent pre-programmed sensations of «eating» various foods

and could make the user feel as if they were actually eating

something in real life. It was originally designed for people who

were on diets or needed to restrict the amount of food they ate, so

it sent fake signals to the parts of the brain registering heat, taste,

and smell to trick it. In other words, our real bodies weren't

actually eating anything right now, and all that's happening was

that the program was wildly stimulating our brains.

But thinking of such things in this situation was just not cool.

Sword Art Online Volume 1 – Aincrad

Chapter 6

82

I was, without a doubt, eating the best food I've tasted since

logging on. Asuna and I didn't say a word and continued to go

through the process of scooping up the soup with our spoons and

bringing it to our mouths.

Finally, as we cleaned our dishes —in every sense of the word, as

though the stew actually existed— and left the empty plate and

pot in front of her, Asuna let out a big sigh.

"Ah...I did well to stay alive till now..."

I totally agreed. Feeling full with the pleasure of having completely

fulfilled a basic need for the first time in a long while, I sipped the

mysterious-smelling tea. Does the taste of the meat I just ate and

of the tea I'm sipping actually exist in the real world? Or were they

man-made by manipulating the system? I pondered these

thoughts absent-mindedly.

Asuna, sitting opposite of me with a tea cup held in her two hands,

broke the few minutes of silence that lingered after the end of the

feast.

"It's strange somehow... How should I put it, I feel like, I was born

in this world and I've been living here until now or something."

"...Me too. Lately there have been some days when I didn't think

about the other world at all. It's not just me either... There aren't

many people who are obsessed with 'clearing' or 'escaping'

nowadays."

"The pace has slackened as well. There are only about five

hundred players on the front lines now. It's not only because of

the danger... Everyone, has gotten used to it, to this world..."

I simply stared at Asuna's beautiful face, with the light from the

orange lamp reflecting on it.

That face, it was definitely not a human's. With smooth skin and

the shiny hair, it was too beautiful to belong to a life form. But to

me, the face didn't look like it was made from a bunch of polygons

anymore. I could accept that it was what it was.

If I returned to the real world now and saw an actual person, I'd

probably feel pretty disconcerted.

Did I really think that I wanted to go back... to that world...?

I was puzzled by the sudden thought. I woke up early and gained

experience points while mapping the labyrinth. Was this really

because I wanted to escape from the game?

In the past, I really did. I wanted to get out as fast as I could from

this death game where you had no idea when you could die. But

now I've gotten used to the game—

"But I want to go back."

Asuna said in a clear voice as if she'd seen my inner conflict. I

raised my head sharply.

Asuna smiled at me for some reason and continued.

"Because, there are so many things, that I haven't done yet."

I willingly nodded to this.

"Yeah, I suppose we have to try our best. I won't be able to look at

the faces of those technician classes that supported us if we

don't..."

I drank a mouthful of tea, as if to get rid of the conflict inside me.

The top floor was still far away. It wouldn't be too late to think

about all this then.

Feeling strangely honest, I stared at Asuna while trying to pick the

appropriate words to express my gratitude. Then Asuna

scrunched up her face and waved her hand, saying.

"N-N-No."

"Wh-What?"

"Some male players have confessed to me when they made that

expression."

"Wha...?"

Disappointingly, although I had Completed my battle skills, I'd

never experienced that before, so I simply opened and closed my

mouth without being able to rebuke it in any way.

Asuna looked at me and laughed. I must seem pretty half-witted

right now.

"So there's no one that you're particularly close to?"

"What's wrong with that...? Well, it's fine, I'm a solo anyway."

"Well, since you're playing an MMORPG, you should make some

friends."

Asuna erased her smile and asked, as if she had suddenly become

a teacher or an older sister.

"Don't you ever have any thoughts about joining a guild?"

"Eh...?"

"I understand that a beta tester like you can't get used to groups,

but..."

Her expression became serious again.

"After the 70th floor, I think more random variants are appearing

in the monsters' algorithms."

I felt this too. Did the programmers plan for the CPU's tactics to

become harder to read, or was it the result of the program actually

learning by itself? If the latter was true, it would just keep getting

harder.

"If you're solo, it'll get harder to take care of unexpected

situations. You can't always escape. It'll be much safer if you're in

a party."

"I have enough safety nets. Thank you for your advice but...guilds

are, just...and..."

It would have been better if I had just stopped there, but I started

bragging instead.

"Party members are usually more of a burden than any help, in my

case."

"Oh, really?"

*Flash*, a silver streak seemed to cut the air in front of me, and by

the time I registered it, Asuna's knife was already held just in front

of my nose. It's a basic rapier skill, «Linear». Well, I say basic, but

because of Asuna's overwhelming dexterity, the speed was

amazing. To tell the truth, I couldn't even see the weapon's

trajectory.

With a forced smile, I raised my arms in a sign of defeat.

"...Okay, you're an exception."

"Hmmph."

She pulled the knife away with a bored expression, and then as

she spun it around with her fingers, she said something

unexpected.

"Then party with me. As the head of the boss party, I'll see if

you're as strong as the rumor say. I've shown you that I'm good

enough. Also, this week's lucky color is black."

"What, what are you saying!?"

I almost fell over at this absurd proclamation and searched

frantically for an argument against it.

"If...If you're going to do that, what about your guild!?"

"It's not as if we have a level quota."

"Then, then what about your bodyguards?"

"I'm going to leave them behind."

I raised the teacup to my mouth in a bid to buy some time but

realized that it was already empty. Asuna took it from me with a

smug expression on her face and refilled it with the hot liquid

from the pot.

To tell the truth—it was an attractive offer. Almost any guy would

want to party with someone you could call the prettiest girl in

Aincrad. But because of this, I kept asking myself why such a

famous person like Asuna would want to party with me.

Perhaps she pitied me because I was a lonely solo player?

Something that I said almost unconsciously, as I was filled with

these negative thoughts, almost became my demise.

"The front lines are dangerous."

Asuna's knife went up again and shined with a seemingly brighter

light than before. I nodded as quickly as I could. Even with my

doubts about why she chose me, who wasn't all that noticeable

among the people who were trying to clear the game, I said with

resolution.

"O-Okay. Then...I'll be waiting in front of the gate of the 74th floor,

tomorrow morning at nine."

Asuna answered with a confident smile as she lowered her hand.

Not knowing how long I could stay at a woman's house without

being rude, I said goodbye as soon as we finished eating. As Asuna

accompanied me to the foot of the stairs in the building, she tilted

her head a little to the side and spoke.

"Well... I suppose I'll have to thank you for today. The food was

good."

"Ah me, me too. I want to ask you for your help again... but I

suppose I won't be able to get my hands on something like that

again."

"Oh, even normal food tastes different if you're skilled enough."

Asuna replied before turning her head up to look at the sky. The

sky had been completely covered with the darkness of night time.

But, of course, you couldn't see any stars. A gloomy cover of iron

and stone closed it off one hundred meters up in the air. I lifted my

head as well and muttered.

"...This situation, this world, is this what Kayaba Akihiko wanted

to make...?"

Both of us couldn't answer this question that was aimed half at

myself.

Kayaba, who was surely watching this world while hiding

somewhere, what could he be thinking? This peaceful situation

that came after the bloodstained confusion of the beginning,

would it have satisfied or disappointed him? There was no way I

could know.

As Asuna stepped closer to me silently, I could feel a slight warmth

at my arm. Was I imagining it, or was it the result of the ever

faithful simulators?

November 6, 2022 was the day this death game started, and now

it was nearing the end of October 2024. Even today, after almost

two years, not a single message had come through from the other

side, let alone any signs of help. All we could do was live and walk,

step by step, towards the top.

Another day passed on Aincrad as I thought this. Where were we

going, or what was waiting for us at the end, it's all just a huge

bunch of stuff that we didn't know yet. The road ahead is long, and

the light is faint. But— there are some good things too.

As I looked at the huge iron cover, I let my imagination take flight

towards the unknown world that I have yet to see.